Errors of lexical selection during high and low semantic competition

Abstract

In the ‘‘paced-cyclic’’ naming paradigm participants take longer to name a repeated series of pictures when the pictures are from the same semantic category vs. mixed categories, presumably due to semantically mediated competition for lexical selection (Damian, Vigliocco, & Levelt, 2001). Thompson-Schill’s selection hypothesis (ThompsonSchill et al., 1998) maintains that anterior brain damage compromises selection when semantic competition is high. In keeping with this, two anterior aphasics were shown to produce more errors in the homogeneous compared to mixed condition of paced-cyclic naming (McCarthy & Kartsounis, 2000; Wilshire & McCarthy, 2002). The present study replicated and extended this finding using a group study design. It also used error-type analysis to test the hypothesis that competition is the basis for higher error rates in the homogeneous contexts [see McCarthy and Kartsounis (2000) for alternative].